Week 3

Design Briefs

During this weeks tutorial Greg started by speaking to us about the importance of design briefs within the classroom. When we speak about technology nowadays most people think of computers. However technology is not and therefore should not be thought of only in an ICT sense. Many problem solving activities, that have a technology influence or background, do not require the use of computers to reach a solution. Greg showed us an example of a design brief that could be used in the classroom for any group or individual problem solving activity. The sheet or page is broken up into boxes with the following headings - problem to be solved, investigate/design, produce, resources and analyse/evaluate. Some reasons why students need to use design briefs is firstly so that they are able to build and create problem solving ideas and solutions, as well as learning how to work and cooperate with each other. It is also teaching a process with the expectation that the students will develop thinking skills and more specifically higher order thinking skills such as collaboration, researching and enquiry/inquiry. I feel that the most important part or box on the sheet is the evaluate box. It is very important for the students to evaluate and reflect on what they have done so that they can learn what they could have done differently or better. It is also important to evaluate the teamwork of the group and the level of cooperation and decision making that occurred as well as the final solution to the initial problem.

Making Frogs Jump

In our technology workshop this week we were given a design brief and the following items to use - a piece of cardboard, a rubber band, some sticky tape and a picture of a frog. Our aim or problem to be solved was to use all the materials to design a frog that jumps. Rob and I decided to fold our piece of cardboard into thirds and stick our frog picture onto the card. We then thought to hold the cardboard down with our finger to create the potential energy or the stored energy and that meant that when we lifted our finger off the cardboard the frog jumps across the table.

We found in our design that we did not need to use our rubber band however because the design brief was to use all the materials we simply wrapped it around the cardboard. It is therefore worth mentioning that we only put the rubber band on to met the design brief not to enhance our frog to jump further or higher. In looking back and evaluating our design we discovered that there were actually a couple of different ways that we could have used our rubber band to help our frog jump further and also potentially higher.

Some other groups in our class had some great ideas that were very different to ours. Some groups used the cardboard as a type of launching pad and then used the rubber band to flick the frog and therefore make it jump. The groups that used this design found that it was better to put some of the cardboard onto the back of the piece of paper that had the frog picture on it as it increased the weight of the frog and therefore the height and distance that it travelled was also increased. The fact that our peers in my class came up with different designs to solve this problem showed me that this activity does have many different ways to be solved.

On a larger scale this further enlightened me to the fact that the students in my classroom will have different ideas and ways of solving the same problem, which should all be acknowledged and recognised as different ways to solve the same problem. As long as the frog jumps it is solving the problem, and it doesn't necessarily matter how far or how high and it definitely doesn't matter which group had the best design. There is no right way or best way to solve the problem!

www.quia.com/web

The next part of our workshop involved making online games using the following website www.quia.com/web This is a fantastic website that enables users to make and design their own quiz, activity or survey for other people to have a go at answering. We were able to use the 30 day free trial available on this website to make a quiz and an activity that can be played anywhere in world! I would very much like to use this activity with my grade perhaps at the end of a topic so that the students can display how much knowledge they have gained and learnt throughout the term. It would also be fun to get the students to give each other their quizzes to see how tough students can make their questions and also how well they are able to answer them. During our tutorial we had a go at making a quiz and I chose to make some multiple choice questions about water conservation (see image below), as this is our topic for our web quest, so I was experimenting with what the students might come up with. I found the program very easy to use and I think students would be more than capable of making their own quiz.

We also had a go at designing an activity and I chose to try the game hangman. This was also very easy to design and could definitely be used in the classroom. I feel that it not only increases the students ability to play these games and therefore develops that part of their brain, but it also teaches them how to think in a different way by making them come up with the questions. This therefore requires them to think about what are the appropriate hints or clues that can be given without giving away the answer completely.

Overall I think this website is fantastic and has so much potential to be used in my classroom - especially if I have a grade 4, 5 or 6. I enjoyed thinking on that wavelength and I am sure students would love to as well.